ttang

my stroked 2.4L motor is having trouble starting sometimes, and my mechanic is thinking that it might be the cold cranking amps of my battery. I'm currently using an Optima Yellow Top, which provides 450CCAs.

So I'm testing this theory with an Interstate Battery that has 500CCAs. The problem doesn't seem to happen as often (it was intermittent to start with), but still occurs.

Was wondering if anybody that has similar mods, such as a stroked engine, found not enough CCA's to be a problem as well.

Thanks in advance!

Kirpich

Relocate to the trunk, and go with a bigger battery. Problem solved.

fireball

possibly water leak into motor.had slight leak myself tracing out the intake manifold and cyl 1.lead to occ difficulty starting the car on cold but ok most times
on warm start.

ttang

interesting. i really hope the motor isn't leaking.. it was just rebuilt a few months ago!

i will be testing it with a large battery.. 680CCA, passenger sized battery

chris_barry

What engine management are you using. You could have the wrong cranking or cold start fuel settings.

godmachine

AEM if that is the system you use is known to have cold start issues from time to time. I know my car does. Also would help to know the commpression of the motor and weather you are having the issues in
( humidity , cold , warm....etc).

wadzii

If you have aem ems, what do you have for crank adv?

if the car is turning over then feels like it wants to stop then you either have too much fuel or too much ign advance during cranking.

If it just cranks and cranks and cranks then you probably have a voltage issue or not enough fuel.

Watch the parameter Stat Sync'd. when that parameter turns ON the engine should start almost instantly.

fishfryer

What does the voltage drop to when starting? Is it hot start or cold start?

Start with the grounds.

After that Wadzii covers it.

My guess is timing if it is Hot, grounds if cold.

wadzii

Look at the voltage during cranking. If it drops much below 10 volts then its going to have trouble starting.

ttang

running Hondata, and it's tuned by my mechanic, so I'll mention those settings to him, but it might not be the tune. He's a very experienced tuner and I'm hoping he didn't the settings wrong.

I'm up here in Vancouver, BC, but right it's winter, so it's only about 5-10 degrees C, and humidity is about 70%. Compression is about 12.5 I believe.

godmachine (nice name btw): this problem occurs infrequently, and is not always the first start of the day. I could've started the car and multiple times, and might only occur once or twice, so that kinda rules out the environmental conditions as a factor (since it's more constant and conditions don't change that fast? IMO, correct me if i'm wrong)

i will definitely look at the voltage while cranking, but might be a bit hard to monitor that if my monitoring system (Greddy infoTouch) blanks out when starting. Might have to get a voltmeter to test it while starting..

When it does have problems, it definitely sounds like it has trouble turning over and it kinda wants to stop, like it's not strong enough to keep turning, but I thought that might be because there isn't enough voltage, and not because there's too much fuel.

good ideas all, I'll pass them on and let you guys know! thanks again everybody